Catholic and Enjoying It!
Canada and the world of Grievance Identity Politics is headed for a major clarification as a lesbian goes into a Muslim barber shop demanding a butch cut. The Muslims gave her the boot. So whose exquisite and offended sensitivities are we supposed to shed tears for. In one narrative, this is an a brutal act of imposition of western cultural imperialism on an oppressed caste who are trying to resist our cultural hegemony. Clearly, it was done with the specific intention of targeting and attacking Islam in the name of Western Values.
In another narrative, this is ruthless and outmoded heteronormative behavior whereby Abrahamic religion continues its long history of oppression of gays and womyn.
For some reason, I’m reminded of an essay in Woody Allen’s Without Feathers, purportedly by Hitler’s barber. At one point, in a reflective mood, he says, “I am sometimes asked if I was a aware of the moral ramifications of what I was doing.”
Continuing in the vein of common sense, I think that people should not be forced to do anything that they regard as sinfully giving approval to moral acts they abhor. At the same time, I don’t see how a haircut is a moral or immoral act. So she should be able to get her haircut where she pleases. At the same time, people who go around picking fights with barbers just because they are Muslim are human toothaches. So my question is not really “Who should win?” but “Why can’t they both lose?”
Prescription: Canada should sentence them both to read my essay on Insensitivity Training. Then Canada should sentence itself to reading it too.
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